


Potentially Underweight

by coneygoil



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 05:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17595200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coneygoil/pseuds/coneygoil
Summary: Dealing with insurance companies can be a pain, but so can losing a limb.





	Potentially Underweight

**Author's Note:**

> BIG THANKS to Wolfie_Dragon for the idea and also helping with brainstorming the title!

An irritated yell ripped through the house and a phone flew across the living room, slamming against the couch cushions. Seconds later, Astrid stormed into the living room, looking as if the top of her head was about to blow off.

“How’d it go?” Hiccup asked lightly with a quirk on his lips.

A growl vibrated from Astrid as she grabbed her hair to pull.

“That good, huh?”

Astrid narrowed a glare at him. “How can you make jokes about this?” She began to pace, her footfalls brushing the rug so roughly it’d probably leave a bald spot. “Our insurance company is being run by a bunch of muttonheads! And they sent out one of their muttonhead nurses to examine you!”

It took every ounce of Astrid’s willpower to not scream at the nurse that had drove out to examine Hiccup after their insurance company had become concerned that her husband, who had unexpectedly became an amputee a few months prior, was potentially dangerously underweight for his height.

_“Of course he’s underweight,”_  Astrid had told the nurse in a frustrated tone, _“He’s missing half his leg!”_ She didn’t mention the fact that Hiccup sometimes forgot to eat, but that wasn’t the point! He’d always been a beanpole that she could easily sling over her shoulder. It didn’t help that Hiccup was throwing out sarcastic comments instead of agreeing with her.

_“I see you’ve had surgery on your leg in the passed four months,” the nurse had asked, “which leg would that be?”_

_“I’ll give you a hint. It’s shorter than the other.”_

Yeah, no help.

Hiccup reached out and caught her swinging arm by the wrist. She turned to him, surprise and concern on her features. “Come sit with me.”

His gentle request made her crumple into his arms. He held her while she cried into his neck, his soothing touch on her back and forearm.

They’d gone through a whirlwind of emotions the passed few months. The car wreck that had taken his left leg right under the knee had been the most traumatic event in both their lives. All Astrid could do was sit and stare into nothingness as the doctor had come to tell her they could not save her husband’s leg. It’d taken Hiccup’s best friend, Fishlegs, to rouse her with a gentle shoulder squeeze and remind her that, even though the leg had been amputated, Hiccup was still alive.

The surgery. The healing process. The physical therapy. The prosthesis fitting. There wasn’t a day that went by without their lives being affected by the results of what had happened to him.

Even though the stump where Hiccup’s leg should have been was for the most part healed now, it still pained him; the ache sinking deep into his severed limb. Astrid spent many nights holding him, soaking up abashed tears, massaging his leg - all the while, exhausting herself both physically and emotionally.

The insurance company didn’t know what hell they’d been through or the suffering that nearly done them in.

A kiss pressed into her hair and Hiccup pulled back just enough to see her face. “Feel better?”

Astrid nodded, wiping her damp eyes on her long-sleeve. “A little. But our insurance company is still ran by muttonheads.”

Hiccup laughed. The sound warmed Astrid’s heart, the warmth spreading through her like liquid. After all the pain and trauma he’d suffered, he could still laugh. She cracked a smile, a soft laugh escaping. If he could still laugh, she could too.


End file.
